The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan) is
set to launch the second package of the Gautam Buddha International Airport
Project in Bhairahawa by June, after better-than-expected progress of the
ongoing civil works.
The second package involves installation of Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (ANS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems. “We have forwarded the documents to the headquarters [Caan] for inviting bids for the second package. The concerned departments are reviewing it,” said Om Sharma, chief of the airport project.
“We expect the tender will be called by June,” he said, adding
that the bidding process would take four months. “Infrastructure required to
install navigational aids will be completed by September.”
As of June 2, the airport project has achieved 42 percent of
physical progress, according to Sharma. The airport in Bhairahawa—the gateway
to Lumbini—is being expanded to an international airport. Caan is planning to
install instrument landing system (ILS), which allows approaches and landings
in poor weather conditions. There are different standards of ILS, including CAT
I, CAT II and CAT III.
“We have been assessing the cost of installing CAT II. The
decision has not been made yet,” said Caan Director General Sanjiv Gautam.
“However, we will have to opt for CAT I for now if CAT II is too expensive,
with an option of upgradation in the near future.” Aircraft can land at the
airport at the visibility of 550 metres under the CAT I system, while CAT II
enables aircraft to land at the minimum visibility of 350 metres.
Caan is planning to start the commercial operations of the airport by July 2019. “The base of 3,000-metre-long and 45-metre-wide runway will be prepared by July-end. And it will be blacktopped by September.”
Caan awarded the Rs6.22-billion Gautam Buddha Airport
upgradation contract to China’s Northwest Civil Aviation Airport Construction
Group in November 2013. The airport was initially slated to be ready in
December 2017.
However, shortages of fuel and building materials due to the
months-long Tarai banda in 2015 delayed the upgradation works by six months,
and its operation deadline was revised to June 2018.
Subsequently, a dispute over payments between the Chinese
contractor and the Nepali sub-contractor—Northwest Infra Nepal—stalled works at
the construction site for more than six months. As a result, the project
deadline was extended many times. The last deadline given by the project
financer Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the Chinese contractor is June 2019.
he national pride project has been envisaged to serve the fast-rising business and industrial hub of Bhairahawa and facilitate international pilgrims to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha. After the first phase of upgradation, the airport’s handling capacity will be increased to 600,000 passengers annually. Lumbini is 22km from Gautam Buddha International Airport at Bhairahawa.
